Comic-Con 2014: ‘The Simpsons’ sets world record with mural

The official Guinness adjudicator stands in front of the mural. (Courtesy of FXX)

Many amateur artists became part of a world record this weekend — another feather in the cap of “The Simpsons,” or more specifically, a feather on Homer’s Dome at San Diego’s Comic-Con International.

The art installation Homer’s Dome included a mural that sat next to the San Diego Convention Center, blank and awaiting thousands of willing painters. The canvas had 5,565 squares in a paint-by-numbers type of format that the organizers were trying to fill out over the course of Comic-Con. The FXX team behind the event hoped to break the Guinness World Record for the most contributions to a painting by the numbers.

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FOR THE RECORD

July 29, 9:12 a.m.: A previous version of this post contained several errors. “Homer’s Dome” is the name of the projection mapping experience and demo of the “Simpsons World” digital and online environment that was all displayed next to the mural. The Guinness world record that was set was for most contributions to a painting by the numbers, not for the most people contributing to a single work of art. The previous record was 2,042 people, not 2,000. The canvas held 5,565 paintable squares, not 5,000. And the event was put on by FXX, not an FX/FXX team.

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The previous record was 2,042 people, so even if participants filled in two squares each, they’d break the record.

“The Simpsons” is no stranger to holding records with Guinness. It already owns the marks for longest-running animated TV series, longest-running sitcom (episode count), most Emmy awards won by an individual, most Emmy awards won for an animated TV series, most guest stars featured in a TV series, most searched-for TV show on the Internet, continuous television watching, and, of course, tallest stack of donuts.

As of Sunday, the mural had enough individual artists to take over the record, but was still open to anyone who wanted to come by and bring more color.